The Magnetic Fields

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The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields. From left to right: John Woo, Claudia Gonson, Stephin Merritt and Sam Davol.
Background information
Origin	New York, USA
Genre(s)	Synth-pop, Indie pop
Years active	1990 – present
Label(s)	Feel Good All Over Merge Records Nonesuch Records
Associated acts	The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, Future Bible Heroes
Website	Official website
Members
Stephin Merritt Claudia Gonson Sam Davol John Woo
Former members
Susan Anway

The Magnetic Fields is a band led by New York City singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt. Albums released by Merritt under the name "The Magnetic Fields" usually consist of synth-pop music in a 1980s style underlying clever lyrics, often about love, that are by turns ironic, bitter, and humorous. While The Wayward Bus and Distant Plastic Trees (now available together as a compilation) are sung by Susan Anway, all subsequent albums are principally sung by Merritt himself.

The band began as Merritt's studio project, with him playing all instruments. With the help of friend Claudia Gonson, who had played in Merritt's band The Zinnias during high school, a live band was assembled in Boston, where Merritt and Gonson lived, to play Merritt's compositions. The band's first live performance was at TT the Bear’s Place in Boston, MA in 1991 where they played to a sparse audience expecting to see Galaxie 500 spinoff Magnetophone. The live performance sounded nothing like the recordings.^{[citation needed]}

One of the group's most significant albums to date is the 1999 triple album 69 Love Songs. It showcased Merritt's songwriting abilities and the group's musicianship, demonstrated by the use of unorthodox instruments (including ukulele, banjo, accordion, cello, mandolin, flute, xylophone, and Marxophone, in addition to their usual setup of synthesizers, guitars, and effects). The album features vocalists Shirley Simms, Dudley Klute, LD Beghtol and Gonson, each of whom sings lead on six songs as well as various backing vocals, plus Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) on accordion, and longtime collaborator Christopher Ewen (of Future Bible Heroes) as guest arranger/synthesist. Violinist Ida Pearle makes a brief cameo on "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side".

2004 album i continues Merritt's love of themed albums, with each of the 14 songs beginning with the letter (in the case of half the songs' titles, the pronoun) "I". The liner notes claim the album was made without synthesizers.

It was announced that the band is at the studio recording and that the new album is to be released through Nonesuch in spring 2007. [1]

1 Members
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Members

Stephin Merritt
Claudia Gonson – percussion/piano/vocals (and group manager)
Sam Davol – cello
John Woo – banjo/guitar

Past contributors include the singers Susan Anway, Dudley Klute, Shirley Simms, and LD Beghtol, as well as instrumentalists Daniel Handler and Chris Ewen.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Distant Plastic Trees Release Date: 1991	The Wayward Bus Release Date: 1992	The House of Tomorrow (EP) Release Date: 1992	Holiday Release Date: 1994
The Charm of the Highway Strip Release Date: 1994	Get Lost Release Date: October 24, 1995	69 Love Songs Release Date: September 7, 1999	i Release Date: May 4, 2004 Peak Chart Position: #152 (Billboard 200)